Review – Ghost the Musical, Piccadilly Theatre

Yet these must be but small concerns compared with having a girlfriend who keeps a potter’s wheel in her apartment.

Yes, pot-throwing!

After all these years there are few on-stage experiences that can be deemed firsts for the Whingers but this surely would be one. Forget whether the hit 1990 film Ghost could be successfully adapted for the stage as a musical, what the Whingers were most eagerly anticipating Ghost the Musical was just how would they handle that iconic scene?

Not that the Whingers have any proficiency to judge her skills at the wheel, Phil hasn’t tossed a pot since school and those results wouldn’t even give Deirdre Barlow’s new-found potting skills a run for their money. But Caissie Levy’s Molly centres her clay very well and gets stuck in sloshing water liberally. The not-so-metaphorical (but endearingly small) phallus she wistfully fingers tells us all we need to know about how much she’s missing her recently deceased boyfriend Sam (Richard Fleeshman), if not why.

Andrew was shaking with dry laughter from the moment her wheel trundled on. Phil came over all nostalgic for the Potter’s Wheel TV interludes*. Expect Grayson Perry to turn up for the official opening night.

But let us crack on before you glaze over.

Do we really need to trouble you with the plot? Sam and Molly’s love affair is suddenly terminated after Sam starts to investigate some banking discrepancies, gets shot in a back alley, turns into a ghost (brilliantly achieved) and finds a con-artist medium Oda Mae Brown (Sharon D Clarke) who can actually hear him so he can contact Molly and warn her that her life is also in danger.

One of Ghost‘s biggest strengths is that it’s a rather ripping story. The book is by Bruce Joel Rubin who wrote the Oscar-winning original screenplay and – as is often the way of musicals these days – the interpolation of songs mostly merely impedes a tale previously perfectly well told without any songs thank you very much.

For this blame mostly the lyrics by Glen Ballard who co-wrote Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” (All together now: “A summer’s disregard, a broken bottle top and one man’s soul, they follow each other on the wind ya know ’cause they got nowhere to go. That’s why I want you to know…”) which eschew wit at every turn. And as each song concludes you find yourself none the wiser really. The subtext of the songs being no more illuminating than, “I miss him. I miss him a lot. No, I REALLY miss him. A LOT! Gosh, I miss him.” This was a preview and at 2 hours 45 mins it still needs cutting and at least one of Levy’s numbers needs to go. One only has patience for so much grieving.

How the creators must have breathed a sigh of relief when they secured the rights to “Unchained Melody”: it’s like discovering a single bloom in a bed of weeds. Not that the songs are that bad (indeed the tunes are by Eurythmics man Dave Stewart who has written one or two hummable ditties in his time), it’s just that anodyne, rock-ish numbers aren’t really very up the Whingers’ alleys. The anthemic “I Had a Life” will probably have its own life beyond the show regardless.

But there’s one comedy number “Ball of Wax” (indeed) which sticks out like a sore thumb, coming as it does just after Sam’s death where a group of disgruntled ghosts led very ably by Mark White** perform a tap number in a hospital. Now, the Whingers are first in the queue for tap dancing on almost any occasion but Phil hadn’t seen such an inappropriate, ill-positioned number since the tap dancing psychiatrists in that legendary musical clunker Jean Seberg. And what does ball of wax mean? Why wasn’t this number cut when the show tried out in Manchester? Why do most of the ghosts’ costumes fade from the shoulders yet others don’t? Why does White resemble Keith Floyd? Baffling in so many ways.

The performances are pretty good though. And what a relief to see a musical where the four principals Fleeshman, Levy, Clarke and Andrew Langtree as Sam’s best friend Carl can all sing well. Other shows should look and learn.

Andrew was less comfortable with the casting, Mister Fleeshman’s muscular physique reminding him of Groucho Marx’s reason for missing Cecil B. De Mille’s 1949 biblical epic Sampson & Delilah starring Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr: “I never go to the movies where the hero’s bust is bigger than the heroine’s”.

This is a classy and slick production which wisely focuses on the story. Director Matthew Warchus has kept the thriller elements genuinely thrilling and there are some terrific visuals courtesy of designer Rob Howell and video and projection designer Jon Driscoll. Enron has much to answer for. But alongside all the suits and money there are some quite hideous 80s everyday clothes which will make anyone old enough to remember wearing them cringe

But two elements top all this. Sharon D Clarke has the almost impossible task of filling Whoopi Goldberg’s shoes as sassy Oda Mae. But fill them she does, even her comedically hideous green and pink shoes. Her comedy turn is to Ghost what Nigel Harman is to Shrek: she steals the evening and lifts it from a three to a four thanks to her comic mastery and her vocal skills. That turned out to be just as well given that she was at the next table in the pub afterwards.

And then there are the illusions by Paul Kieve which outwitted the Whingers at almost every turn. Sam’s two final departures were really rather extraordinary.

Of course, there are gripes. There’s the lack of a basic programme (souvenir programmes are available at £7; for more detailed moaning see the footnotes). And Andrew thought the physics of it was rather shoddy and he came out with a list of questions which nobody else was the least interested in answering:

If Sam can’t grasp solid things such as door-knob, how come he can sit on a sofa? And leave a dent?

And come to that, why doesn’t he fall through the floors?

Then how come although he learns to touch solid things to the point where he can beat up Carl, how come he can’t hug Molly without entering Oda Mae’s body?

And (for those of you who have seen it) what on earth does Molly think is wrong with the picture frame his Carrie Fisher poster is already in? It’s exactly the right size and rather elaborate, being self-standing and all that.

Thankfully they have plenty of time to iron out these credibility issues before it opens and make the whole thing more realistic. But even if they don’t, there is the distinct whiff of a crowd-pleasing hit if Monday’s ovating, tissue-wrangling audience was anything to go by. And it’s probably best viewed during the week before the inevitable hen parties invade at weekends.

Rating

Footnotes

What’s with the insidious trend of big musicals selling programmes that are really overpriced, oversized souvenir brochures? The days seem to be gone when you could choose. Ghost‘s “programme” is a whoppingly outrageous £7. Only one out the Whingers’ party of 10 purchased one and few others in the audience seemed to be shelling out for them and presumably that was to use as a fan in the Piccadilly’s stifling auditorium. Stop it at once.

** We are most impressed by Mr White’s credits. A theatrical Homo Universalis indeed:

Mark has also proved himself off stage in the West End, as Deputy Master Carpenter (Victoria Palace), Deputy Head Of Stage (Dominion), Head Flyman (Palladium), and Revolve Operator on Warhorse (New London Theatre).

*Not that we’re criticising Caissie Levy’s skills. But they really did do it properly in those TV interludes and barely a hint of a penis.

Agree with most of this – esp the Enron influence. I’d give it 3 stars myself – but we were right at the back of the gods, so it was hard to get involved. Plus my friend had shelled out £7 for the programme, which really wasn’t worth it, so she wasn’t disposed to enjoy it. We were there early on in the previews so some of the effects weren’t as crisp as they might have been, some of the accents were decidedly dodgy, as was much of the diction – couldn’t hear half of what people were singing. Hated all the video montages of them snogging and dancing, especially the repeated ones of Sam shouting ‘nooooo!’ – cheesy 80s pop videos.

Ghost the musical is ghostastic. It is one of the best musicals I have seen in a long time. At the end it got a standing ovation from the whole of the audience. The musical is based on the film Ghost. The set/scenery was amazing with moving motion pictures, the lighting and the props. Without giving to much away some scenes where a bit like magic like when Richard swiped his hand straight through a coke can and disappeared like a ghost. Richard Fleeshman was excellent at playing the character Sam and when he got shot on stage it really did pull my heart strings and many others. Caissie Levy has a outstanding voce. The other cast where also excellent for instance Sharon D Clarke who played the Psychic woman she really was funny she played the character so well that in my personal opinion she is even better than Whoopi Goldberg who played the physic in the actual movie. Sharon made the scenes very entertaining and funny. Adebayo Bolaji who plays the subway ghost was amazing also and his voice and acting reminded me a bit of Samuel L. Jackson. He was so much better than the original man (Vincent Schiavelli ) that played the subway ghost in the movie. To sum the play up I would say it is a happy, emotional, funny and magical musical. Highly recommend. Totally worth the full price.

I rather liked my £7 programme! (especially as I got it signed, just before they all ran off to the pub you were in hehe!). I think in terms of value for money, you get (much) more for it with a £7 souvenir programme vs a £4 playbill style one…

In terms of the show, can’t wait to go back, think I was one of the ones who led the rear stalls to ovation hehe – not so sure how well this will do after cast change though (Sharon D is in until, at least, February 2012)

me and my wife went to see the new musical ghost and i must say it is the best show i have seen my wife has been to most of them and rates it one of the best the cast is brilliant and sharon d clark who playes the psychic brilliant you will not be disapointed in this musical if you are you may need to go see sharon the psychic for some theraphy it may seem expensive but it is money well spent good look and the highest i have rated a show 5 stars